eMac question....

[jim2029]

I just got this eMac and its 1.25Ghz, 40GB hard drive, and 256 ram.

When i turn it on it just goes to a folder and flashes a "?" and a smile face...

Whats wrong?

Thanks.

 

[Dreamcast270mhz]

Your E-macs OS is screwed up, you'll need install CDs somewhere

 

[jim2029]

I don't think it has a dvd drive. and all the OX X 10.5 disks I see on ebay are dvd. Will a dvd drive for a pc work in this thing?

Sorry for the questions, but I'm a PC wanting to convert.

 

[pigoo3]

I don't think it has a dvd drive. and all the OX X 10.5 disks I see on ebay are dvd. Will a dvd drive for a pc work in this thing?

Sorry for the questions, but I'm a PC wanting to convert.

Unless someone changed the optical drive...your eMac can definitely read DVD's.

You need to get an operating system on that eMac. The lowest you can go is 10.3.3.

10.4 & 10.5 are going to cost you $100+...10.3 should be less expensive & get you up & operating.

HTH,

- Nick

 

[jim2029]

is there software still being made for the 10.3??? I don't wanna get the Windows 98 equivalent of apple of on this thing...

Thanks for your help so far!

 

[Mercedes1787]

I don't think so

 

[hughvane]

Not quite "made", but available - yes. A lot of Mac apps still work with 10.3. That 1.25 GHz eMac will operate Tiger really well (it was issued with Panther originally). As Nick points out, getting a retail version of Tiger is an expensive challenge - but it depends to a large extent where you are and who you know. Keep checking Buy/Sell/Trade in Mac-Forums to see if someone is making older OS versions available.

There are still quite a number of eMac users on this Forum, so ask away when you have questions or concerns.

 

[pigoo3]

is there software still being made for the 10.3??? I don't wanna get the Windows 98 equivalent of apple of on this thing...

Thanks for your help so far!

I think at this point your main concern should be to get this computer working...since it currently does not have a working OS on it...you need to install something.

I don't know what your budget is...but purchasing OS 10.4 or 10.5 install disks are going to cost you at least $100...and more likely $125+. What happens if you spend $125 bucks on newer Mac OS install disks, do the install...and the computer has problems??

So what I'm suggesting is...buy some OS 10.3 install disks for probably around $30 bucks..install the OS to see if the eMac is working properly, if everything is ok, then decide what to do next.

Of course if money is not an issue...then purchase some 10.4 or 10.5 install disks (retail install black disks) for around $125+. If you're a "Mac Person" these install disks will come in handy anyway.

HTH,

- Nick

 

[jim2029]

Thanks for all your help so far. A friend of mine had a PPC Linux disk laying around so I thought I'd give it a shot to see if this box will do anything. But...

How do I open the cd-rom drive? I do not see a button... just a white cover door on the front of this machine.

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks for all your help so far. A friend of mine had a PPC Linux disk laying around so I thought I'd give it a shot to see if this box will do anything. But...

How do I open the cd-rom drive? I do not see a button... just a white cover door on the front of this machine.

Try the F12 key...or a key in the upper right area of the keyboard with a "triangle" symbol on it.

- Nick

 

[jim2029]

An update where i stand right now...

I flipped the door open and found a button.... with a small screw driver i pressed it and it opened.

I tried the Gentoo Linux disk.... Attempted to boot but got a memory error.

I found where the memory is in this thing, and I have a 256MB DDR333 and a 1GB DDR333.

I have tried to boot with both and then one and then the other.... Same thing.

So I don't know if this Linux isn't comparable with this mac.

So now I'm looking around for an OS X disk.

 

[pigoo3]

Getting a Mac OS X install disk is really the best place to start...and that's why I suggested that you get OS 10.3...since this would be the least painful option "dollars & cents-wise".

You never told us the history of this eMac (if you know any)...so it's possible it could have problems...and spending a bunch of bucks for OS 10.4 or 10.5 may not be something you want to do.

- Nick

 

[jim2029]

History that I know...

This eMac has an auction sticker on the top from Central Michigan University.

I responded to a craigslist ad for a computer store going out of business.... Bought a ton of ram (Over 200 Stciks) and a few motherboards from them. They said there not mac person, and all they know is this mac will bot boot. They said the hard drive is bad because of the blinking "?".

That all I know. They gave it to me..... so I got nothing into it right now.

 

[pigoo3]

That all I know. They gave it to me..... so I got nothing into it right now.

Well no dollars into it is a great place to start.

When I mentioned history...if the previous owner said that it worked fine...and they just wiped the hard drive for security reasons (which a lot of people do) then you would have good reason to believe that the computer is fine...and spending $125 for OS 10.4 or 10.5 would be worth it.

But if you had reasons to believe (based on any history you knew)...that this computer may be defective or broken in some way...then I would think that you would want to spend as little money on this eMac as possible until you knew it was fine.

Which of course getting an OS loaded on it will help determine.

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal from this place that went out of business...a free eMac & 200 sticks of ram that hopefully you got a good price on!

- Nick

 

[hughvane]

You will need to be careful with all that RAM you've purchased, The eMac, in fact most earlier Macs, are fussy about which RAM will work. You need low density 2 - PC-2700 DDR333 184-pin SDRAM. The machine will take up to 2 Gb in 2 x 1 Gb modules.

But RAM is probably the least of your concerns right now. Hopefully, as advised, you can find some retail Panther disks. Meantime, just as a wild shot, you don't happen to have access to Disk Warrior do you?

 

[jim2029]

The ram I purchased was for other computer I repair. I bought it becuase there are some big sticks of RDRAM (Ram Bus) that is hard to find.

The info on the memory is useful, Thanks. When I bring this thing to life, I'll see if the ram that was in it registers.

 

[jim2029]

I just found a Disk in my collection called Disk Warrior 3.0... I looked it over here in windows and it doesn't look boot able. I stuck it in the eMac and all it does is attempts to read it then spits it out.

 

[hughvane]

Try booting from that DW disk you have, hold down the C key on restart. DW3 should suit the OS that *may* be on the eMac.

 

[jim2029]

I've tried the "C" key and I hear the cd drive reading the disk.... the screen blinks a few times then the dreaded blinking "?" hows up with the face on the file folder.

 

[hughvane]

DW has its own 'bare-bones' operating system, the boot part, so we're really back to, or have reached the stage, where installing an OS is probably your only solution now. That, or i) taking the eMac to an Apple technician or ii) purchasing an external hard drive with firewire connection, or iii) getting a replacement internal hard drive and starting afresh.

I suggest you now do some serious searching for either Panther or Tiger OS disks, black-colored, retail versions.